This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Carrie Prejean has filed a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title. She is accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage.

Carrie Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA title earlier this year after contract violations were reported.

"We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," said her attorney, Charles LiMandri.

Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April due to her response to a question from a judge, Perez Hilton. She declared her opposition to same-sex marriage and only believed in 'opposite marriage.' Prejean finished as first runner-up.

The complaint was filed in Superior Court of California against Miss California USA officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, as well as publicist Roger Neal.

It alleges that Prejean suffered because of "libel, public disclosure of private facts, religious discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress."

It is possible that Miss Prejean will be counter sued for contract violations by the Trump organization that owns the Miss USA pageant. Rightardia views the lawsuit as a publicity stunt.

Rightardia comment:Since we have been doing a lot of satire today, we decided to publish this little gem from Russia Today.

Professor Igor Panarin, whose book “The Crash of America” is just out, claims that by November the book will be yesterday’s news.

Panarin believes President Obama will lead his country to a breakup. Panarin compares Obama to former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

“Obama is “the president of hope”, but in a year there won’t be any hope. He’s practically another Gorbachev – he likes to talk but hasn’t really managed to do anything.

Gorbachev at least had been a secretary of a regional communist party administration, whereas Obama was just a social worker. His mentality is totally different. He’s a nice person and talks nicely – but he’s not a leader and will take America to a crash. When Americans understand that – it will be like a bomb explosion,” Panarin said, speaking to journalists during the unveiling of his book.

Panarin made his controversial forecast back in 1998, saying 2010 would be the starting point of the collapse. He spent the following eleven years monitoring the events around the US and says they largely confirm his theory.

“Today I received another confirmation that the collapse of the dollar and the US is inevitable. Japan’s Democratic Party won the election, and I’d like to remind you that its leader [Yukio Hatoyama] has the snubbing of the dollar among his economic plans. In plainer words, he plans to transfer Japan’s monetary reserves from US dollars into another currency. The move will seriously accelerate the dollar’s exchange slump as early as this November. Disintegration will follow shortly,” he added.

Amid all these pessimistic statements, Panarin – once labeled by a WSJ journalist as “a polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut” – insists he is by no means a US-hater but, rather, just a scientist.

The US will be devided to six areas of foreign influence according to Panarin

“I’m not anti-American, the US population has nothing to do with the part of its political elite that implements an absurd and aggressive policy that aims to create conflicts around the planet…….I hope to see the reasonable part of the American elite – I know there is one – benefiting in these two months left till the collapse.

I can name two people that belong to this reasonable part – US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns. If they triumph in the political strife, the consequences of the collapse will be minimized.”

“The 2009 US budget deficit is 4.5 times the 2008 deficit, while firearms sales are up 40%. On October 1, the coupons that were given to state workers are to be cashed out. When the workers realize that they are getting nothing for those coupons, they will take out their firearms and chaos will unfold.

Meanwhile, in a separate issue, as the financial year draws to a close on September 30, its results will be published. They are destined to shock investors worldwide.

After that, and the snubbing of the dollar by Japan and, especially, China, which will transfer 50% of its international operations to Yuan starting in 2010, the currency will then flow like a landslide out of style.

Argentina and Brazil are excluding the dollar from mutual financial operations starting January 2010, while Brazil offers to move toward alternative currencies throughout the whole of South America,” Panarin noted.

He also suggested Russia follow suit and begin selling oil and gas for roubles.

Panarin still leaves room for miscalculation, which would actually make him happy. And should the collapse not start in November, he is ready to explain why it didn’t happen by December. But at the moment, the collapse looks quite likely.

“In my opinion, the probability of the US ceasing to exist by June, 2010 exceeds 50%. At this point, the mission of all major international powers is to prevent chaos in the US,” Panarin concluded.

Freehold, Iowa - World renowned Pastor and child Counselor, Deacon Fred received a troubling letter from a concerned home schooler that disturbed him so greatly, he ordered it to be posted onto the World Wide Web so that every American can see it.

A Christian Child's Depiction of The Future! This is a Christian Child's Nightmare About Obama's Death Squads

Click Here to Enlarge Image

This innocent drawing from a concerned Christian child, is a tell-tale sign that things are NOT well in the Land of the Free! Politics are one thing! But when you start putting strange ideas into the precious minds of American children, well - that's a whole different kettle altogether, Mr. President!

Gerin oil or geriniol is a drug used to induce religious fervor. Richard Dawkins thinks the word is an anagram of "religion". It is believed that Gerin Oil was originally refined by Benedictine Monks in the 1700s to improve religious fervor among the brotherhood.

Evangelicals stole the process for making Gerin oil from a Vatican library and are manufacturing it in a secret compound in Freehold, IA. Some Catholic priests have said the formula for Gerin oil was the the real DaVinci code secret.

Dawkins believes that Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other neocons experiment with this drug.

It is a dangerous legal drug "Gerin Oil" or "Geriniol that is far worse than marijuana." Dawkins blames its effects as being responsible for historic acts of violence such as the September 11th attacks, massacres of native South Americans by conquistadors, and the Salem Witch Trials.

According to Dawkins, users are often introduced to the drug at social gatherings such as weddings and funerals. In small amounts it is considered harmless, although its usage may increase over time.

Medium usage of "Gerin Oil" is said to cause a disconnect with reality where users expect private wishes expressed to come true, often accompanied by spasmodic muscular movement or contraction. In large doses it is said to cause aural or visual hallucinations.

He also links its use to child mutilation, sexual prohibition, and the tendency to smile when convicted of mass murder.

Rightardia comment: We published an expose from Russia Today on Rendon Group. Russia Today interviewed one of the Stars and Stripes reporters, Kevin Baron, who revealed the role of Rendon Group, who had a $1.5 million contract to investigate reporters. Reporters who were too critical of Armed Services in the past were rejected for embedded assignments. The Pentagon had initially denied that an embed profiling program was used to reject reporters covering the war in Afghanistan, until Stars and Stripesproved otherwise. The Pentagon has now canceled its contract with the controversial Rendon Group that had been receiving government contracts for many years.

“The decision to terminate the Rendon contract was mine and mine alone. As the senior U.S. communicator in Afghanistan, it was clear that the issue of Rendon’s support to US forces in Afghanistan had become a distraction from our main mission,” said Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith.

Rightardia comment: How can a congressmen express such an unfounded and scurrilous opinion in public. Thousands of people have been denied care under private health care and died. Olson should be ashamed of himself for being such of a shill for private health care. He could have used the story to explain how the private health care system did something right.

At a recent town hall meeting, Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) was booed for suggesting a baby would have not been born if we had a government-run health care option.

Olson told the story of Britney, a pregnant woman who couldn't find a doctor who would treat her unborn child's heart defect. After being turned away by several, she hunted down a specialist in Detroit who was willing to perform the procedure.

Britney is convinced that her son would not have been born if there was a public option then, and she wouldn't have had the choices to find the doctor that she wants.

Over applause, a number of audience members audibly groan. "Oh Jesus Christ, that's terrible," says one attendee. "That's not true," says another.
"For those of you who say it's not true, don't talk to me, talk to Britney," Olson responded.

"The insurance company turned her down, not the government," an audience member says. "The private insurance turned her down, not the government."

Others shout back that if there was government-run insurance, she would have been turned away. As the meeting devolves into shouting back-and-forth, Olson just says, "I want to thank you all for coming."

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky GE Introduced The HydroWave™ Wash System in 2008. GE is making waves in the laundry industry with the advanced HydroWave™ wash system, now also available for consumers who prefer the convenience of a top load washer. These washers are very quiet because they do not have a transmission.

Available in both GE® and GE Profile™ top load washers, the revolutionary wash system cleans clothes with a gentle wave–like action. Unlike traditional agitators, the HydroWave system gently rotates forward and backward in a 360° arch, rather than the standard 160° arcs that churn clothing through water.

Clothes are gently drawn through the water so that even the most delicate fabrics are protected. Additionally, GE's new drive system has eliminated the need for noisier transmissions, gears and brakes that are behind the operation of traditional washers. This means, the new HydroWave is much quieter than previous models.

The GE Profile models feature a king–size, 3.5–cu.–ft. ribbed, stainless steel wash basket that is incredibly spacious, reducing the number of loads needed on laundry day to help consumers spend less time doing laundry.

GE models offer a large 3.2–cu.–ft., ribbed ExtrAction™ wash basket which is plastic. The increased surface area that gently squeezes more water from clothes during the spin cycle. The result is a shorter drying time.

Both washers have their ultimate match in the GE Profile and GE dryers, which offer 7.0–cu.–ft. capacity to dry larger items and family–sized loads without snags. Special attention was paid to the appearance of both the washer and dryer in each laundry pair.

Washers with the HydroWave system are designed to provide years of durable operation, with a variable–speed motor that's engineered with far fewer parts than conventional top load washers: fewer parts means fewer things that can go wrong.

The auto balance suspension system features a floating rod and spring to keep loads properly balanced. The GE Profile washer (WPRE8100G) and dryer (DSPE810EG/GG) are available now with an estimated price of $599 to $629 on the washer and $499 to $519 on the dryer. The GE washer (WWSE5240G) and dryer (DWSR463EG/GG) are currently available with an estimated price of $399 to $419 on the washer and $379 to $399 on the dryer.

Middle Class Warrior bought one of these from a well known discount store. He bought the 3.2 cubic inch model with the smaller plastic tub for $359. He didn't miss the larger tub in the older washer at all. The washer was incredibly quiet and dish cloths he uses in lieu of paper towels came out a lot whiter. The machine is also attractive.

He also washed a pair of expensive tennis shoes. In the past when the spin cycle finished in the older Whirlpool washer, the several ounces of water would still pour out of the shoes.

The tennis shoes were damp to touch and didn't drip water at all when the Hydrowave washer wash cycle had completed.

If you are on a budget, the 3.2–cu.–ft washer is a good buy. When the Hydrowaves were first introduced, many had to be retuned because they didn't work at all. A leading consumer magazine gave the GE Washers high marks. The model GE WJRE5500G[WW] was rated a Best Buy. The Whirlpools didn't fare so well.

This review was not solicited by GE or any corporations that sell GE products.

What's better than being able to see Russia from your window? Speaking at the CLSA Investors Forum, apparently.

The Associated Press reports that Sarah Palin's first commercial speaking engagement will take place on Sept 23 in Hong Kong.

The former governor of Alaska, whose lack of foreign-policy experience was criticized during the 2008 elections, will follow in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Alan Greenspan, who have spoken at the event, which is hosted by investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

A spokesman for the conference said the event presented investors with "a diversity of views" and included "topics that go beyond traditional finance such as geopolitics." The event will be closed to the media, and Palin's speaking fees were not disclosed.

Palin received her first passport in 2007 in order to visit Alaskan National Guard members in Kuwait and Germany.

For those who have worked on Capitol Hill it was almost a perk of the job to occasionally see Senator Kennedy walking the Portuguese Water Dogs he loved so much. And for a man who left almost as sweeping a legacy as one can imagine, the presence of Bo here at the White House might be a footnote, but it's a special footnote tied to one of the Senator's great joys in life.

USA Today's pet blog ran a short piece on this on Wednesday:
Politics aside, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy will be remembered by many for his contributions to the nation and also for his love for his dogs Sunny and Splash, Portuguese Water Dogs.

He told Harry Smith of CBS in a 2006 interview: "Splash is a part of our family, but he's part of the senate family as well. He comes to work with me every day with his little niece Sunny and members of the senate dome. He's not allowed to go on the senate floor.

He's troubled by that... because he thinks, he says that they won't let him on because people will say that they don't think he knows how to behave. But actually, he says that he behaves a lot better than most senators."

He gave President Obama his puppy, a Portuguese Water Dog, named Bo.

Kennedy wrote a children's book My Senator and Me in Sunny's voice. One of his greatest joys was sailing with his wife Vicki and the dogs on his sloop Mya.

Indeed, Bo came from the same lineage as Senator Kennedy’s dogs. Here’s a (rare) photo of the Senator and his wife, Vicki, greeting Bo in the White House:

RUSH: Here's Rebecca in Canton, Michigan, as we go to the phones on Open Line Friday. Thank you for waiting, Rebecca. Hello.

CALLER: Oh. Well, it will be a great day. I wanted to respectfully take you to task for the response that you gave to Christine on Wednesday.

RUSH: Now I'm beginning to think that everything you said before now just wasn't true.

CALLER: No, it is very true. But she brought up a very good point. She brought up a very good point that I haven't heard you or anybody else addressing.

RUSH:I don't think that's possible, but I'll listen.

CALLER: (laughs) It was a short point before she got, you know, petty. But, anyway, the bottom line is that health care in this country is prohibitively expensive, and there are reasons for that, and unless we start talking about the underlying reasons for the problem, we'll never fix them. And you, Rush, are usually a really great educator on free market economics but I haven't heard you educating much here on one of the most significant reasons that health care in our country is so expensive.

RUSH: This is surreal. I do it all the time. This is like Christine telling me, when she spoke five words for every one word I spoke, that she couldn't get a word in. You're telling me I don't...? How many times on this show just last week have we talked about the relationship to price when the customer deals directly with the provider of the service or the manufacturer of the product? Without --CALLER: But at the same time --

RUSH: Health savings accounts. Getting the price down. The whole point of conservative health care reform is oriented precisely around that point, and the only reason the costs are so prohibitively high right now is because most people don't think they're paying for it. Insurance is, government is, in Christine's case she thinks her neighbors ought to pay for it. That is what was so bothersome about her call.

Rightardia comment: These accounts have been around for along time and allow you to cut your taxable income by the amount you put into the account. it also means you have to negotiate the cost of a doctor's visit and most doctor's offices don't maintain a schedule of fees. These accounts would be woefully inadequate for a serious illness or a hospitalization. You also lose all of the money left in the account at the end of the year.

CALLER: Yes. Yes. I agree. But I hear you praising the insurance companies that are in our country right now, and they are contributing to the high cost of the health care because --

CALLER: Oh, that I definitely agree with. I am in no way in favor of the government taking it upon themselves to wipe out one-sixth of our economy.

RUSH: (sigh)

CALLER: However I do think that we as a people need to stop buying routine medical care and employers need to stop providing health benefits to their employees because all these middlemen have crippled the free market as it applies to health care.

RUSH: No. The middleman that's screwed this all up is the government, not the insurance companies. The insurance companies can't sell policies like you just described. Something else I have long advocated. When you gotta go for a checkup, pay for it! When you gotta go get a $20 bottle of blood pressure medicine, pay for it. If you gotta have an insurance policy for that, pay for that, too! But whatever, pay for it and keep the really catastrophic events reserved for major insurance policies, because with an insurance policy you're just trying to mitigate as much risk as you can. But nobody has the right to good health. Nobody has the right to good health. We live under so many misconceptions in this whole thing. Health care is a "right." Government or employers should provide it. There would be a revolt if the employers of this country just decided, "You know, we're just not going to go private anymore," and that will be the case when Obama gets his public option. They will off-load it and then you're going to only have one place to go to have any health insurance, and that's the government -- and that's the plan, and that's not going to do anything for prices. Rebecca, thanks much for the call, appreciate it.

Rightardia comment: The Limbaugh solution is bogus. Let me describe what happened to an associate of my wife who is in her early sixties and works as a medical receptionist.

She had one of these health accounts and was paying $400 a month into it. She also had 'medical insurance' through her employer which was costing her another $400 a month. She slipped and hurt her back.

Her emergency room treatment and subsequent doctor's visits wiped out her health savings account in two months. When she called the insurance company, she found her employer had changed her 'health insurance' and that she had a $10,000 deductible catastrophic coverage account.

This meant she would have to spend another $5200 of her own money before the medical insurance would pay a dime. Of course, she would have to continue to pay the insurance company $400 every month to maintain her policy.

By the end of the year it will cost her the $10,000 deductible plus another another $4800 a year to maintain the policy to benefit from this plan.

Is this the best the GOP can come up? This is not 'insurance' the average American can afford . Rush Limbaugh is selling the ditto heads the standard insurance company blather that all Americans need is health care accounts and catastrophic coverage. Imagine what such an approach to health care would cost a family of four.

But soon even this futuristic technology may seem ancient as true technology of the 21st Century steps in.

“Our laser is able to penetrate the eye's cornea without damaging its surface. As a result we can make the needed changes inside the eyeball without having to open it first,” shares Konstantin Lapshin, senior researcher at Physics Instrumentation Centre.

The femtosecond laser generates impulses of light less than one billionth of a second long. Such beams can cut or evaporate matter when several lasers are aimed at one spot.

See the complete article at http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-08-31/femtosecond-laser-eye-surgery.html#

Rightardia comment: Obama has activated his political organization, Organizing for America. A lot can change in the next year and the Democrats have resiliency. A recent Gallup Poll also indicates that Republicans in Congress have a 13 per cent approval rating. Democrats in Congress have a 55 per cent approval rating. Independents represented by Blue Dog Democrats aren't much better than the GOP at 22 per cent.

If a dimwit like George Bush could gain congressional seats in the 2002 elections, the Democrats should be able to as well. If there is a will, there is a way. A lot will depend on how the Democrats handle health care.

The Democrats do have a nuclear keep it simple stupid option. Extend Medicare to other Americans. We have CHIPS, S-CHIPS, and Medicaid. All could be rolled into a single unified program and additional age groups could be phased in over time.

JOSH KRAUSHAAR | 8/31/09 4:50 AM EDT

Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers predict an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House. this will not be enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power.

Top political analyst Charlie Cook wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”

"Many veteran congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu. The chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats.

At the mid-August Netroots Nation convention, Nate Silver, a Democratic analyst whose uncannily accurate, stat-driven predictions have made his website 538.com predicted that Republicans will win between 20 and 50 seats next year. He further alarmed an audience of progressive activists by arguing that the GOP has between a 25 and 33 percent chance of winning back control of the House.

“A lot of Democratic freshmen and sophomores will be running in a much tougher environment than in 2006 and 2008 and some will adapt to it, but a lot of others will inevitably freak out and end up losing,” Silver told POLITICO. “Complacency is another factor: We have volunteers who worked really hard in 2006 and in 2008 for Obama but it’s less compelling [for them] to preserve the majority.”

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Jenna Bush Hager is the newest correspondent for Today Show. NBC News hired one of the Bush twins. Jenna is now a school teacher in Baltimore. She will do monthly segments primarily about education.

The 27-year-old daughter of former President George W. and Laura Bush, Jenna and her twin sister Barbara were once better-known for their wild partying. Check out the 'picnic picture' below of Jenna in her wild college days:

How the times have changed. Jenna is not only a teacher but also an author. During her two previous guest appearances on Today, she "knocked it out of the park," said the show's executive producer Jim Bell. "I think she can handle" being a correspondent.

Really? I wonder if Bell saw these pictures? Jenna would have been wiser to have kept a low private profile. If NBC News was going to hire a Bush twin, they should have hired Barbara, the smart one.

Once a 'bush," always a Bush. Stealing a line from Rush Limbaugh, "I hope she fails."

Rightardia comment: We view Glen Beck as the TV alter ego of Rush Limbaugh. Both men are undereducated and Becks comments that President Obama has a deep seated hatred of white people deserved an appropriate response by colorofchange.org.
The right wing attacked Bill Maher for his comments about "lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away." Mahers show 'Politically Incorrect' was cancelled by ABC."

In addition, Dan Rather had to step down at CBS because of a report on Bush Air National Guard records.

When center left broadcasters say something that offends the right, they get fired. Glen Beck didn't even get a reprimand for his comments. Rush Limbaugh constantly makes outrageous comments yet he got a huge raise when he contract was up for renewal.

There seems to be a double standard for broadcasters on the left and right.

FOX News anchor Glenn Beck is under attack by U.S. media outlets and liberals for spreading lies across America. But his ratings are exploding as his audience stands strong.

UTICA, New York - Large numbers of U.S. adults can't keep up with economic changes and have seen their finances and quality of life decline since the start of the recession that started in 2008.

44% said the economy is changing faster than they are able to change their habits.

Only 12% are better off now than they were at the start of the recession.

42% report that their quality of life has declined over that same period, and only 7% say it has improved. The rest, 51%, have had no change or are not sure.

Those conclusions are drawn from a Zogby Interactive survey of 41,175 adults conducted from July 2-27, 2009. The margin of error is +/- 0.5%.

Household income is the most consistent difference on all three questions. For example, 41% of those in households making $25,000 or less say they can't keep up. A plurality of all adults making $75,000 or more says they are keeping up.

(CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the Justice Department's decision to review waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques is politically motivated. Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the review of interrogation methods.

Cheney also criticized the review of interrogation methods that violate the Geneva Conventions.

Cheney said he opposes the decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to ask a former prosecutor to review CIA interrogations of high-profile terrorism suspects.

Cheney made clear he believes President Obama directed Holder to launch the review because the president is feeling pressure from left-wing Democrats. There has also been an outcry from the UN and US allies about 'US enhanced interrogation techniques.'

Cheney said the review will undermine the willingness of CIA personnel to conduct necessary operations. Cheney comments are dated because the interrogation function is being removed from the CIA.

"I think it's a terrible decision," Cheney said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's clearly a political move. There's no other rationale for why they're doing this."

Actually Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader has been calling for Truth Commission on torture since the new Senate convened. Someone needs to be held accountable for the crimes the Bush administration authorized after the Iraq War started.

John McCain disagrees with Cheney. He wants the investigation swept under the rug with assurances that the US will never do this again, but he clearly recognizes th torture did tremendous damage to the US. See McCain's comments in the video that follows.

Cheney criticized Obama for allowing a review considering the president previously said that CIA operatives involved in the interrogations would not be prosecuted. "I think he's trying to duck responsibility for what's going on here, and I think it's wrong," Cheney said.

The current health care debate says much about the Astroturfers as about the issue. It goes something like this: "There can be no common ground such as Obama has called for. Either we maintain the status quo or life as we know it in the US will end.

That kind of simplistic black and white mindlessness is at the heart of what passes as "thinking" among conservatives. It makes a bi-partisan solution impossible.

Slavery is another good example. Sure, following the Civil War, slaves were freed. But were they "free" when they were forced to lives of share cropping, violence, servility, racial intolerance, second class citizenship and lack of suffrage for 100 years?

Many Blacks were in a gray zone between slavery and freedom. And cons just can't handle gray zones.

And it turns out for a very good reason. In a study published in Psychological Bulletin, the authors determined that conservatives essentially are damaged goods, having a pathological reliance on hierarchy, authority, nostalgia, resistance to change and intolerance of ambiguity.

Both slavery and health care are civil rights issues. Health care should not be tethered to employment. It should not be something a US citizen loses when they are laid off. Sick people should not be penalized with pre-existing conditions that causes them to lose health care when they need it the most.

The Republicans fired the first shots. Let's finish them off now that Obama's politcal organization, Organizing for America, has been reactivated. Let's rout those Astroturfers, Tea Baggers, Birthers and Deathers. We beat them in 2008 and we will beat them again.

Don't shoot until you see the height of their lies!

That's what Senator Ted Kennedy would want!

Congress is about to head back to D.C. to make historic decisions about health insurance reform. This is our last, best chance to take a stand while their attention is focused back home.

So we're organizing "Health Insurance Reform Now" events all around the country to show the overwhelming support for reform.

These events will be watched closely by Congress and the media to gauge just how strongly voters feel about reform -- and every extra person who shows up will make a strong, public case for change.

In the next few days, there's an event happening near you -- and we need all the OFA supporters in the area there. Will you join us?

These will be fun, respectful, powerful events. There are different types happening all over the country -- rallies, press conferences, even a few picnics. But they'll all have a common thread: We'll gather together with other local folks who are sick of the deception that's clouding this debate and share our passion for reform.

We'll thank those in Congress who are already championing reform -- they're feeling the heat and they deserve our support. And we'll urge those still standing in the way to start putting their constituents' health and economic security ahead of the special interests and partisan point-scoring.

Two of Ted Kennedy's closest friends in the Senate said on Sunday that they thought his widow, Vicki Kennedy, would make a great temporary replacement for him. The Massachusetts legislature must change the law to allow for a gubernatorial appointment.

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) endorsed Vicki for her late husband's post.

"She is a very brilliant lawyer," said Hatch. "She's a very solid individual. She certainly made a difference in Ted's life, let me tell you. . ."

India is an emerging Third World country that may become a super power. It has a population of more than one billion. It would be interesting to compare the Indian health care system to that of the Chinese.

India represents a free enterprise model for developing countries while the Chinese use a socialistic model. Rightardia has heard that Chinese health care is good around the major metropolitan cities but lacking in outlying rural areas.

Embedded video from &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.cnn.com/video"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;CNN Video&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Get 30 days of free traffic analysis simply by going to Web-Stat: http://www.web-stat.com/?id=2955

Rightardia comment: Middle Class Warrior agrees with Jonathan Alter. Health care is a civil right that should not be dependent upon employment.

A lot of Americans need to reject the corporate concept that they can be treated like indentured servants. Alter was interviewed on The Young Turks about his view of health care as a civil right. The interview was too long to embed, but Alter is on to a great idea.

The United States has two parties now—the Obama Party and the Fox Party. The Obama Party is larger, but it is unfocused and its troops are whiny. The Fox Party, which shows up en masse to harass politicians, is noisy and practiced in the art of simplistic obstruction.

As the health-care debate rages, it's the Party of Sort-of-Maybe-Yes versus the Party of Hell No! The Yessers are more lackadaisical because they've forgotten the stakes—they've forgotten that this is the most important civil-rights bill in a generation, though it is rarely framed that way.

The main reason that the bill isn't sold as civil rights is that most Americans don't believe there's a "right" to health care. They see their rights as inalienable, and thus free, which health care isn't.

Serious illness is an abstraction (thankfully) for younger Americans. It's something that happens to someone else, and if that someone else is older than 65, we know that Medicare will take care of it. Polls show that the 87 percent of Americans who have health insurance aren't much interested in giving any new rights and entitlements to "them"—the uninsured.

But how about if you or someone you know loses a job and the them becomes "us"? The recession, which is thought to be harming the cause of reform, could be aiding it if the story were told with the proper sense of drama and fright.

Since all versions of the pending bill ban discrimination by insurance companies against people with preexisting conditions, that provision isn't controversial. Which means it gets little attention. Which means that the deep moral wrong that passage of this bill would remedy is somehow missing from the debate.

Rightardia comment: The Major attended this event and noticed plenty of protesters as he entered the school grounds. Attendance was light compared to last year and fewer people visited the displays in the school set up by a variety of veterans organizations. Another big difference was that some of the protesters entered the event grounds and were talking to the vets.

The major did not attend the rally in the auditorium because he no longer buys into right wing patriotic events. Some of the people who were leaving the rally indicated the protesters had disrupted it and police had to be called in. The Major saw the police talking to some of the protesters, but he didn't see anyone get arrested.

If the Astroturfers, Birthers, Deathers and Tea Baggers can't be civil in town hall meetings, Rightardia suggests turnabout is fair play.

TAMPA BAY CHAPTER 119 TO PROTEST WEAPONS DISPLAY ON PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY
Rep. Gus Bilirakis's Military Fair violates the public school system's ZERO-TOLERANCE policy against weapons.

WHAT: CODEPINK, St. Pete for Peace, Veterans For Peace, and local activists will protest the use of public school property to display weapons.
WHEN: 11am to 2 pm, August 29th, 2009
WHERE: Rep. Gus Bilirakis's 3rd Annual Military Fair, East Lake High School, 1300 Silver Eagle Drive, Tarpon Springs FL

The annual Military Fair, hosted by Congressman Gus Bilirakis, is used to glorify the military to children. Advertised as a "family" event, the fair includes multiple displays of military machinery and weaponry.

Public schools should be centers of academic and personal growth, we won't allow them to be used to showcase and glorify the military. At last year's event, Bilirakis allowed gun dealers on the school grounds; the dealers brought display guns, and allowed children to point them at each other.

The law states that if a child so much as displays a plastic pirate sword during a Halloween party on school grounds, he or she gets expelled. Yet the military is allowed to set up weapons displays and invite gun dealers to showcase their weaponry. We will not raise our children to kill another mother's child, and we refuse to allow our schools to become centers for military indoctrination.

Rightardia comment:The US has treated Israel like an overindulged spoiled child for far too long. The neocons and the Israel Firsters helped the Bush administration lead America into the disastrous Iraq War with phoney WMDs and yellow cake uranium.

We need America Firsters running the United States, not Christo-fascists who think they can transform the Middle East and also believe they are above the law. The Israeli tail has been wagging the American dog for far too long.

Only four percent of Israelis believe President Barack Obama's Mideast policies are "pro-Israel," according to a Smith Research poll. The number dropped two percentage points form 6 percent two months ago.

Thirty-five percent believe Obama's policies are balanced, while 51 percent say they are more pro-Palestine, according to the study.

The figures come in the midst of Obama's attempt to broker peace between Israel and Palestine as well as his efforts to repair the fissure between Islam and the West by reaching out to Arab and Middle Eastern countries.

Two months ago, 88 percent of Israelis said the policies of President George Bush, Obama's predecessor, were "pro-Israel."

With few exceptions, all of the religious creeds in the US are sales organizations. They proselytize for new recruits and try to covert people from other faiths. Accordingly, they should pay a sales tax. A five per cent sales tax would be a good place to start.

It would nice to see religion as part of the solution for once. Most of the churches have opted out of supporting social programs years ago.

In less than one month after taking his oath, President Bush created a White House Office of Faith Based Action. this office was supposed to “encourage religious institutions to compete to run drug, poverty, and other social programs now administered by government agencies.

Many religious leaders expressed concern, fearing the office will lead to government interference with their ministries, favor politically-connected ministers, and would violate the separation of church and state by providing government funds for what amounts to proselytizing.

Mr. Bush started experiencing criticism from those who want to protect the “wall of separation.” His proposal was criticized by Pat Robertson because it allows “non-Western” religions such as Hare Krishna and newer religious movements like the Church of Scientology and Unification Church to get in line for money.

Surprise! Did they NEVER consider this possibility? This is not unlike what James Dunn has noted about prayer in schools—whose prayers? Was Bush's world-view so parochial that when the word “faith-based” he thought it only means evangelical Christians?

The source reference has a lot of interesting anecdotes on why Bush faith-based ideas on social programs died a quick death.